The Iliad
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: December 18, 2007
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, USA
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 472
ISBN-13: 9780472116171
Subjects: Works by individual poets: classical, early & medieval; Ancient - Greece; Ancient, Classical & Medieval; Poetry / Ancient, Classical & Medieval; Poetry; Achilles (Greek mythology); Epic poetry, Greek; Translations into English; Trojan War
Description: With this translation of the Iliad, employing an English version of the powerful meter that gave life to HOmer's original, Rodney Merrill enables modern readers to experience, better than ever before, both great GIneruc epics as products of the long tradition of epic song.
Table of contents: title: 1. Forced by Apollo's punishment to return Chryses' daughter, Agamemnon takes Achilles' prize-girl; Achilles has his mother ask Zeus to favor the Trojans; Hera finds out and quarrels with Zeus -- 2. After telling a deceptive dream, Agamemnon orders withdrawal; Odysseus halts it, then scourges Thersítes for abusing Agamemnon; the lords rouse the army. Catalog of Achaíans and Trojans -- 3. Paris avoids Menelos' response to his challenge, then agrees to fight; from the wall Helen identifies the Achaían lords; Priam goes and oaths are sworn; Paris loses, but Aphrodíte takes him away -- 4. The gods confirm Troy's ruin; Athena makes Pándaros violate the oaths by wounding Meneláos, whom Macháon treats; Agamemnon urges the lords; roused by gods, the armies battle -- 5. Athena grants Diomédes glory; he kills Pándaros and wounds Aineías and Aphrodíté; theAchaían and Trojan lords battle, joined by Athena, Hera, and Ares, whom Diomédes wounds -- 6. Without any gods the battle continues; Agamemnon kills Adréstos; Diomédes and Glaukos talk and exchange armor; in Troy Hektor encounters Hékabé, Helen, Paris, and Andrómaché -- 7. Hektor challenges the Achaían lords; Agamemnon restrains Meneláos, Ajax is chosen, the fight is halted; Paris will not return Helen; the dead are buried, the Achaíans build defenses -- 8. Zeus keeps the gods away; the Achaíans flee the Trojans' attack but defend the wall; Hera and Athena plan to aid them, but Zeus forbids it; at night the Trojans build watchfires -- 9. Heeding Nestor's rebuke, Agamemnon offers gifts to Achilles if he will yield; Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoinix bear the message and plead with him; he relents - he will stay but not fight -- 10. At a night council the Achaíans dispatch spies, Diomédes and Odysseus, who capture and kill the Trojan spy Dolon, then slaughter Rhesos and his Thracian troops and report back -- 11. Agamemnon rampages and is wounded; Paris and Sokos wound Diomédes, Odysseus, Mach áon, and Eurypylos; Achilles sends Patróklos to question Nestor, who urges him to enter the battle -- 12. Battle rages at the wall, which gods later will destroy; the Trojans keep attacking, despite an omen; Sarpédon speaks to Glaukos; Ajax and Teukros fight, and Hektor breaks the gate -- 13. Poseidon aids the Achaíans; leaders of both sides battle; at the ships the Ajaxes hold off Hektor, who decides to retreat, but, emboldened by Paris, answers Ajax's jeers and leads on -- 14. Poseidon encourages the Achaían lords to keep fighting; Hera plots to make Zeus sleep, aiding Poseidon, who marshals the Achaíans; struck down, Hektor revives; the Achaíans prevail -- 15. Awakening, Zeus sends Iris to stop Poseidon and Apollo to aid the Trojans; Hektor fights Ajax,then leads his army against the ships with fire; Ajax, ranging the decks, repels them. 16. Yielding to Patróklos' plea, Achilles sends him out with the Myrmidons; he kills Sarpédon and routs the Trojans; Apollo takes the body, rouses Hektor, and helps him kill Patróklos -- 17. Achaíans and Trojans battle over Patróklos' body; Hektor dons Achilles' armor; with gods aiding, both sides rally; Achilles' horses weep; Meneláos sends Antílochos to tell Achilles -- 18. Achilles, Thetis, and sea-nymphs lament the heroes' death; Achilles rescues Patróklos' body; at Thetis' request, Hephaistos makes arms for her son, including an elaborate shield -- 19. Receiving the arms, Achilles renounces his wrath; Agamemnon blames Delusion, which harms even Zeus, and gives both gifts and girl to Achilles; he arms; Xanthos foretells his death -- 20. Zeus sends the gods to aid both sides; Achilles speaks and fights with Aineías, whom Poseidon saves, then faces Hektor, whom Apollo saves, then keeps on rampaging and killing -- 21. Achilles kills many men in the river, who begs him to stop, then threatens; Hera sends Hephaistos to quell the river; the gods oppose each other; the Trojans go into the city -- 22. His parents beg Hektor to come in; Hektor refuses; Achilles chases him; Athena deceives him into stopping; Achilles strikes him, rejects his dying plea, and drags him; the women wail -- 23. In sleep, Achilles sees Patróklos; he mourns; the winds light the pyre. The funeral games: chariot-racing, boxing, wrestling, footrace, spear-fight, hurling a lump, archery, and spear-throw -- 24. Achilles keeps dragging Hektor; angered, Zeus says he must give up the body; with Hermes' aid Priam goes to ransom it; they meet, Achilles restrains the battle, and Hektor is buried.